“Dear Steve,
My husband is the only bread winner in a family. We are both older and we have 3 young teenagers. I am 54 and he is 59. Our son is a junior in High school and our twin girls are 14 and still in middle school.
We have about 22 thousand in credit card dead with credit union and about 20 thousand with 2 different credit cards.
I have made in the past several attempts by calling credit union to lower our interest rate from 8.9 to 6.9 I have always strugguled and somehow paid my bills but I cannot any longer due to my health problems and other issues.
Please advice how to deal with the credit union since this is my biggest headache. I do not want bunckrupcy, dead consolidation and I simply would like to settle with them if possible.
Krystyna”
Dear Krystyna,
I’m sorry to hear about your health problems. It creates a trying time for sure.
Frankly, limiting your options is not the best way to approach this. All you are doing is boxing yourself into a corner and all but eliminating your chance of dealing with this situation.
What we know for sure is your expenses may increase as your health problem and other issues continue. That is going to put more pressure on your household budget and make it more difficult to deal with the situation.
It does not sound like you have cash on hand to settle the debt right now and if you are not three or so months delinquent on the debt the chances are you are not going to get to good settlement offers.
Dealing with credit unions makes this tricky since they have this little known trap called cross-collateralization. That means if you have a car loan with them or some other debt, a default on one debt is essentially a default on all debts and your collateral will be held until the situation is rectified.
You can deal with the situation by paying in full or bankruptcy.
I think you should not rule out bankruptcy before you fully understand the benefits and applications for it.
I’d suggest you first read How to Get Out of Debt. The Honest and Unvarnished Truth, How Do I Get Out of Debt Quickly? Change Your Mindset, and The Truth About The Success Rates, Failure Rates and Completion Rates of Credit Counseling, Debt Settlement, and Bankruptcy. They will give you a great overview of what we need to deal with to get you moving in the right direction.
Then use the free How to Get Out of Debt Calculator to review your options.
Once you’ve identified a company you want to work with, then follow my step-by-step guide on what you should look for and expect from a good debt relief company.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
You are not alone. I'm here to help. There is no need to suffer in silence. We can get through this. Tomorrow can be better than today. Don't give up.
Do you have a question you'd like to ask me for free? Go ahead and click here.
- Plastic Pandemic: US Credit Card Debt Surges Nearly 20% in Q1 2021! - May 12, 2023
- The IRS Resumes Collections Notices: What You Need to Know Before It’s Too Late - May 12, 2023
- How Can I Deal With Payday Loan Debt? - May 12, 2023